107159 research outputs found
Sort by
Blessing from human-AI interaction: super policy learning in confounded environments
No full textAs AI becomes more prevalent throughout society, effective methods of integrating humans and AI systems that leverage their respective strengths and mitigate risk have become an important priority. In this paper, we introduce the paradigm of super policy learning that takes advantage of Human-AI interaction for data driven sequential decision making. This approach utilizes the observed action, either from AI or humans, as input for achieving a stronger oracle in policy learning for the decision maker (humans or AI). In the decision process with unmeasured confounding, the actions taken by past agents can offer valuable insights into undisclosed information. By including this information for the policy search in a novel and legitimate manner, the proposed super policy learning will yield a super-policy that is guaranteed to outperform both the standard optimal policy and the behavior one (e.g., past agents’ actions). We call this stronger oracle a blessing from human-AI interaction. Furthermore, to address the issue of unmeasured confounding in finding super-policies using the batch data, a number of nonparametric and causal identifications are established under the framework of proximal causal inference. Building upon on these novel identification results, we develop several super-policy learning algorithms and systematically study their theoretical properties such as finite-sample regret guarantee. Finally, we illustrate the effectiveness of our proposal through extensive simulations and real-world applications
Let me explain: a comparative field study on how experts enact authority over clients when facing AI decisions
No full textWith organizations increasingly relying on predictive artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for decision‐making, experts lose the authority to overrule AI‐generated decisions yet remain responsible for presenting them to clients. As experts depend on clients’ recognition and approval of decisions, this shift presents a critical disruption to their authority. To investigate how experts respond to this challenge, we adopt a relational perspective that foregrounds the role of audiences in reconfiguring authority. Drawing on a comparative field study, we show how experts sought to reconstruct their authority by engaging in different activities to make clients understand and accept AI decisions, which we call ‘explaining practices’. These practices were shaped by two relational conditions: (1) whether clients recognized the expertise of human experts as unique; and (2) whether interactions between experts and clients provided rich opportunities for learning about clients’ evolving needs. When experts were able to learn about and tailor their explanations to those needs, clients could better make sense of AI decisions and were more willing to accept them, thereby reinforcing expert authority. By contrast, experts who failed to do so left clients with decisions they could not understand or endorse, undermining their authority. This study thereby offers new insights into the complex interplay between expert–client relationships, expert authority, and explaining practices
The trouble with rational expectations in heterogeneous agent models: a challenge for macroeconomics
Get PDFThe thesis of this essay is that, in heterogeneous agent macroeconomics, the assumption of rational expectations about equilibrium prices is unrealistic and should be replaced. Rational expectations imply that decision-makers forecast equilibrium prices like interest rates by forecasting cross-sectional distributions. This leads to an extreme version of the curse of dimensionality: dynamic programming problems in which the entire distribution is a state variable (the ‘Master equation’, also known as the ‘Monster equation’). Frontier computational methods struggle with these infinite-dimensional Bellman equations, making it implausible that real-world agents solve the associated decision problems. These difficulties also limit the applicability of the heterogeneous agent approach to central questions in macroeconomics—those involving aggregate risk and non-linearities such as financial crises. This troublesome feature of the rational expectations assumption poses a challenge: what should replace it? I outline three criteria for alternative approaches: (1) computational tractability, (2) consistency with empirical evidence and (3) (some) immunity to the Lucas critique. I then discuss several promising directions, including temporary equilibrium approaches, incorporating survey expectations, least-squares learning and reinforcement learning
Robust mean change point testing in high-dimensional data with heavy tails
Get PDFWe study mean change point testing problems for high-dimensional data, with exponentially- or polynomially-decaying tails. In each case, depending on the ℓ0-norm of the mean change vector, we separately consider dense and sparse regimes. We characterise the boundary between the dense and sparse regimes under the above two tail conditions for the first time in the change point literature and propose novel testing procedures that attain optimal rates in each of the four regimes up to a poly-iterated logarithmic factor. To be specific, when the error distributions possess exponentially-decaying tails, a near-optimal CUSUM-type statistic is considered. As for polynomially-decaying tails, admitting bounded α-th moments for some α ≥ 4, we introduce a median-of-means-type test statistic that achieves a near-optimal testing rate in both dense and sparse regimes. Our investigation in the even more challenging case of 2 ≤ α < 4, unveils a new phenomenon that the minimax testing rate has no sparse regime, i.e. testing sparse changes is information-theoretically as hard as testing dense changes. Finally, we consider various extensions where we also obtain near-optimal performances, including testing against multiple change points, allowing temporal dependence as well as fewer than two finite moments in the data generating mechanisms. We also show how sub-Gaussian rates can be achieved when an additional minimal spacing condition is imposed under the alternative hypothesis
The cyber resilience act as a new paradigm for product security: a compliance roadmap
Get PDFThe European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) represents a major change in regulation of the cybersecurity of products with digital elements. The CRA introduces mandatory “secure by design” requirements and lifecycle security obligations with respect to hardware and software products, thereby changing product cybersecurity from a voluntary or ad hoc practice to a matter of public law compliance. The present article analyzes the key provisions of the CRA and their practical implementation from an EU-wide compliance perspective. Specifically, it outlines the broad scope of the products and stakeholders covered by the CRA, the cybersecurity requirements imposed on manufacturers, and the risk-based assessments of conformity that must be carried out. A step-by-step compliance roadmap is provided, covering obligations from initial design and development (security risk assessments, vulnerability mitigation, and documentation) to certification and/or CE marking and post-market duties (incident reporting and security updates). The enforcement of the CRA by means of surveillance, administrative fines, and potential criminal law implications in cases of severe non-compliance is also examined. By summarizing these aspects, this article offers guidance to practitioners required to navigate the CRA, as well as emphasizing its importance as a means of bolstering product security and accountability throughout the product lifecycle
What judges need to know: the anti‐factual challenge and judicial review
Get PDFToday, there is a ‘knowledge crisis’, informing ‘societies of doubt’. Looked at more closely, we are confronted with attacks on expertise and knowledge, on facts and truth, as one chapter in the autocratic playbook. This challenges the legal system in many ways, be it legislation and other types of regulation, or administration and governance, as well as legal protection by courts. For courts, the challenge is particularly problematic. Judges do not only have to apply law that is more complicated than ever, with legal pluralism ranging from local to global norms. Courts are also, next to independent media, civil society and the academy, targeted by autocrats because they are in their way. Yet in addition, courts must navigate facts in new ways. The article argues that courts are needed as facilitators, curators and communicators of facts, to counter the threats and defend, not least, democracy and justice. Also, legal education must ensure that future lawyers and judges are up to these new callings
Cyberangriffe auf Kliniken: patientengefährdung, rechtliche Pflichten und ethische Herausforderungen
Get PDFCyberangriffe auf Kliniken gefährden Versorgungskontinuität und Patientensicherheit unmittelbar. Der Beitrag verdichtet die empirische Lage, systematisiert Pflichten (BSIG/BSI-KritisV, § 75c SGB V, DSGVO) und analysiert Haftungsfragen einschließlich objektiver Sorgfaltspflichtverletzung, Pflichtwidrigkeitszusammenhang und objektiver Zurechnung. Aus Governance-Perspektive werden antizipierte Sachverständigenstandards (B3S/ISMS, „Stand der Technik“) als Konkretisierung des Sorgfaltsmaßstabs diskutiert. Die medizinethische Bewertung bündelt zentrale Dilemmata – insbesondere Lösegeldforderungen und Ressourcenkonflikte zwischen IT-Sicherheit und unmittelbarer Patientenversorgung – entlang der Vier-Prinzipien-Ethik und einer Verantwortungsethik. Abschließend folgen prägnante Handlungsempfehlungen für Klinikträger, Aufsicht und Ethikgremien. Kernthese: IT-Sicherheit ist Patientensicherheit; präventive Dokumentation und geübte Notfallverfahren sind rechtlich wie ethisch geboten
Fossil fuel abolition in international law and arbitration
Get PDFFossil fuels have long been regarded as natural resources that States may freely exploit. That right is now limited by the prospect of State responsibility for fossil fuel exploitation, affirmed by the International Court of Justice in its 2025 advisory opinion on climate change. This Analysis examines the Court’s unanimous guidance on fossil fuels, as well as the more precise guidance in joint and separate declarations on the phasing out of production, consumption, licensing, and subsidies. Then it considers how States may defend phase-out measures in investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) proceedings. Drawing an analogy with slavery and other harmful industries that were lawfully abolished without needing to pay full compensation, it examines a range of measures that may be defended in investment arbitration and the possible relevance of climate law in commercial arbitration. It concludes by observing a disparity between international legal developments and the expansion of the oil and gas industry
The case against school cell phone bans
Get PDFThis Viewpoint advocates for allowance of cell phone use in schools with policies in place to decrease harm and support learning
Investigating person-centred care planning in care homes across England: an exploratory study of practices and contextual factors
No full textAims: To report how person‐centred care principles are applied to care planning and to explore the contextual factors affecting their implementation in older adult care homes in England. Design: A combined framework analysis and quantitative content analysis study. Methods: Using a semi‐structured questionnaire, we interviewed 22 care home managers in England, exploring topics around care planning processes. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were analysed through a combined framework approach and content analysis. Results: Most care home managers discussed person‐centred care planning in terms of understanding residents' values and preferences and their engagement in decision‐making. Factors facilitating person‐centred planning implementation included accessible planning tools, supportive care home leadership, effective communication and collaborative partnerships. Inhibiting factors included regulatory and care practice misalignment, time constraints and adverse staffing conditions. Conclusion: Differences between care home practitioners' understanding and practice of person‐centred care planning require further examination to improve understanding of the sector's complexity and to develop suitable care planning instruments. Implications for the Profession: Findings demonstrate a need for improved staff access to specialised person‐centred care training and an opportunity for care home nursing practitioners to lead the co‐development of digital person‐centred care planning tools that reflect the reality of long‐term care settings. Impact: Identifying factors influencing the implementation of holistic approaches to care planning makes clear the need for modernising long‐term care policy and practice to adapt to the contemporary challenges of the care home sector. Reporting Method: Study reporting was guided by the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research. Patient or Public Contribution: Two public involvement advisors with lived experience of caring for a relative living in a care home contributed to the development of the interview guide, advised on care home engagement, guided the interpretation of the findings and commented on the drafted manuscript